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People in the News

People in the News

People in the News

Dec. 13, 1990

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (AP) _ Those weren't jeers but cheers for Roseanne Barr, who revved up her infamous singing voice at a morale-boosting show for those left behind by Operation Desert Shield.

The star of the TV comedy ''Roseanne'' gave a free performance Wednesday night to about 800 Marines, spouses and children at the Marine Corps Air- Ground Combat Center.

Many thought she wouldn't try singing after her off-key rendition of the national anthem at a San Diego Padres baseball game in July went over like a beanball pitch.

But Barr did anyway.

''I must be the greatest singer in the world because my voice can stop a ... nation,'' she said.

She then burst into an ear-splitting medley of ''I am Woman,'' ''Mandy,'' ''Amazing Grace'' and ''Stand by Your Man.'' For the men in the audience, she sang, ''To Sir With Love.''

Her comedy routine, with her husband, Tom Arnold, playing the straight man, focused on the brash and bawdy - she spat and grabbed at her crotch between her repertoire of jokes about fat people and sexual orientation. But that seemed to please her audience just fine.

NEW YORK (AP) - Penny Marshall says she was so nervous about directing Robert De Niro in her soon-to-be-released film ''Awakenings'' that she was reduced to mumbling.

Marshall, 47, who starred in television's ''Laverne & Shirley'' and whose directing credits include ''Big,'' told Parade magazine in an interview to be published Sunday that nerves took over the first day of shooting.

''I mumbled - that's how my hysteria manifests itself,'' she said. ''But, thank God, Bobby's a mumbler, too. That first day I realized he's not difficult to work with, he's just awesome in his talent.

''But then I thought, 'Oh, my God, I can't tell him what to do,' and I started mumbling. Finally he looked at me and said, 'Penny, don't do this to me. Just say what you want and don't get too nervous.'''

De Niro and Robin Williams were her choices for the patient and doctor in ''Awakenings,'' a film about survivors of a great sleeping sickness epidemic of the 1920s who wake up 40 years later.

Of her directing style, Marshall said: ''I just wear them down. I know what I want even if I can't always express it.''

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LOS ANGELES (AP) - Actress Tippi Hedren says there are lessons to be learned about human behavior from the wild animals at her Shambala Preserve.

Miss Hedren, who opened the preserve in 1972 to provide a place for tigers and elephants who were unwanted or had retired from the movies, is opening the secluded Antelope Valley park to visitors Saturday as a fund raiser.

The money will be used to care for the animals.

''I learn a lot about people from them,'' Miss Hedren said of her cats. ''If people could be as honest as animals, what a different world it would be.

''Lots of people think we're all crazy to be working so closely with the animals,'' said Miss Hedren.

''But we have a very wonderful time getting to know them ... without using whips and those kinds of circus methods.''

And while she considers the animals her friends, she concedes they can be dangerous.

''We don't take any of them for granted,'' she said. ''They're very powerful animals.''

The actress, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock's ''The Birds'' and ''Marnie'' and appears on daytime television's ''The Bold and the Beautiful,'' said a tigress named Natasha once shredded her script because she wanted attention.

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SEATTLE (AP) - A food bank and a youth symphony will be the getting $32,500 each thanks to a court settlement stemming from a series of concerts that Michael Jackson canceled.

Attorneys Thomas Wampold and Aaron Haleva also will get a hefty $35,000 for their work representing ticket-buyers who sued over the canceled concerts in October and November 1988. Jackson said he was ill when he canceled the shows.

Jackson, the company handling ticket sales for the concerts and the city of Tacoma agreed Wednesday to contribute $32,500 each to Northwest Harvest and the Seattle Youth Symphony.

The plaintiffs picked the Seattle Youth Symphony for the contribution and the defendants agreed on Northwest Harvest.

Ticketmaster Inc., which had been accused in the lawsuit of improperly withholding $2.25 to $3.25 in service fees it charged for each ticket sold, acknowledged no wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

The Los Angeles-based company said it was making the contributions to Northwest Harvest and the Seattle Youth Symphony as a charitable gesture to the community.

Wampold said it was decided to contribute to charity instead of refunding ticket-buyers because of the cost of distributing small amounts of cash to a large number of people.

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LONDON (AP) - Paul McCartney is getting a bit of agate in the Guinness Book of Records for holding the biggest concert in history.

McCartney, 48, set the record during a 10-month world tour with the environmental group Friends of the Earth that began in September 1989 and included a visit to the United States.

The entry in the 1991 edition of the book will read: ''Solo performer: The largest paying audience ever attracted by a solo performer was an estimated 180,000-184,000 in the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to hear Paul McCartney ... on 21 Apr. 1990.''

To celebrate the entry, McCartney, his wife, Linda, their five-piece band and 600 friends held a party Wednesday night at a London restaurant with McCartney getting a certificate from the publishers to mark the record.

''It's great to have all the people from the tour back assembled here,'' McCartney said.